RiskCity: a training package on the use of GIS for urban multi-hazard risk assessment

As part of the capacity building activities of the United Nations University – ITC School on Disaster Geo-Information Management (UNU-ITC DGIM) the International Institute for Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC) has developed a training package on the application of GIS for multi-hazard risk assessment. The package, called RiskCity comprises a complete suite of exercise descriptions, together with GIS data and presentation materials on the various steps required to collect and analyze relevant spatial data for hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment in an urban environment. The exercises deal with four different types of hazards: earthquakes, flooding, technological hazards, and landslides. The exercises deal with a hypothetical case study, hence the name RiskCity. Most of the data was derived from the city of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, but has been adapted to make the exercises more didactical. They aim to give an understanding of the basic concepts involved in risk assessment, and allow the students to have an idea on how GIS can be used for analyzing the different types of hazards, creating an elements at risk database, assessing vulnerability, making loss estimations using qualitative and quantitative methods, carry out a cost benefit analysis, and use the data for urban planning and
disaster risk management. The package has been developed in collaboration with several partner organizations in different continents, and is used as the basis for a series of courses. Currently it is developed into a distance education course.